Mao's Parades: State Spectacles in China in the 1950S*
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This is the Pre-Published Version411 Mao's Parades: State Spectacles in China in the 1950s* Chang-tai Hung ABSTRACT Political parades in the People's Republic of China are a rich and complex cultural text from which historians can gain a deeper understanding of the nature and policies of the Chinese Communist Party CCP).The CCP's state spectacles, primarily the parades during the May Day and National Day 1 October) celebrations held in Tiananmen Square in the 1950s, were a well-organized political ritual with multiple purposes: festivals of iconoclasm, demolishing the old order and embracing the new era of socialism; a legitimation of the CCP's authority; a display of myriad achievements under communism; an affirmation of the centrality of Mao's role in modern Chinese revolutionary history; and an announcement of China's presence in the international socialist camp.The parades, although influenced by the Soviet Union, exhibited strong native colours.They also reflected a nation undergoing political and economic changes.In the end, Mao Zedong and his senior Party leaders, acting both as actors and directors, carefully controlled and choreographed the paraders, who were themselves the audience, in Tiananmen Square to heap praise on the achievements of the Party and its chairman. On the morning of 3 February 1949, four days after the seizure of the Kuomintang ýZ)-controlled Beiping s, renamed Beijing in October 1949, its original name before 1928), the People's Liberation Army PLA) marched into the fabled city with great fanfare, signalling an official changeover of power and the beginning of a new era in modern Chinese history. Commanders Lin Biao j, 1907±71) and Luo Ronghuan WcS, 1902± 63), positioned atop Zhengyang Gate Zhengyangmen c3è), inspected the troops as they passed through the gate; the troops then immediately turned eastward into the heart of the legation quarter Dongjiaominxiang ¤÷), and then moved on to other parts of the city.A young American Fulbright scholar, Derk Bodde, witnessed this spectacular display of military might, and noted in his diary: I missed the first contingents of infantry and cavalry, as well as part of the motorized units.But in what I did see, lasting about an hour, I counted over 250 heavy motor vehicles of all kinds ± tanks, armored cars, truck loads of soldiers, trucks mounted with * Research for this article was generously funded by a grant from the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong. # The China Quarterly, 2007 doi:10.1017/S0305741007001269 This is the Pre-Published Version 412 The China Quarterly, 190, June 2007, pp. 411±431 machine guns, trucks towing heavy artillery.Behind them followed innumerable ambulances, jeeps, and other smaller vehicles.As probably the greatest demonstration of Chinese military might in history, the spectacle was enormously impressive.But what made it especially memorable to Americans was the fact that it was primarily a display of American military equipment, virtually all of it captured or obtained by bribe from Kuomintang forces in the short space of two and one half years.1 But unknown to Bodde and many Beiping residents on that memorable day, this military parade was not casually put together.The event was carefully orchestrated and meticulously planned from the start by the Chinese Communist Party CCP).On the evening of 29 January, Beiping's underground communist radio stations received a secret telegram from Liu Ren Á, 1909± 73), a high official and an organizer of the parade, with the instruction, ``Line up the people in the streets to welcome [our troops]!''2 Planners calculated the route to generate the most dramatic and symbolic effect.By entering Beiping through Zhengyang Gate ± the main southern entrance into the inner city, formerly reserved for emperors ± and then marching into the legation quarter where foreigners had been prominent in bygone days, the Red Army was forcefully stating that it intended to demolish two evils of China's past: feudalism and imperialism.The communist army, envisaging a bright new world ahead, would now ``liberate'' China. The rich cultural and political context of parades affords historians a deeper understanding of the nature of societies.This is clearly illustrated by the community celebrations shehuo >k) in traditional China, popular village parades held at the beginning of the lunar year when peasants paid tribute to local deities in the hope of reaping a bumper harvest.3 The CCP's military procession was rather different, however, with broad geographical antecedents and major political implications.Historically parades and processions have been central to politics.In his study of three different societies ± Elizabethan England, 14th-century Java and 19th-century Morocco ± Clifford Geertz has argued that the rulers used royal processions to ``justify their existence and order their actions in terms of a collection of stories, ceremonies, insignia, formalities, and appurtenances that they have either inherited or, in more revolutionary situations, invented.''4 During the French Revolution, as Mona Ozouf contended, festivals and parades marked by popular participation and held in open fields were vital parts of a new revolutionary culture that emphasized the openness and equality of a modern, secular world.5 Nazi culture thrived on mass rallies.Hitler was a master at emotionally manipulating crowds through 1 Derk Bodde, Peking Diary: A Year of Revolution New York: Henry Schuman, 1950), pp.103±04. 2 Mianhuai Liu Ren tongzhi Remembering Comrade Liu Ren) Beijing: Beijing chubanshe, 1979), p.111. 3 Dong Xiaoping, Tianye minsuzhi Folklore Fieldwork) Beijing: Beijing shifan daxue chubanshe, 2003), pp.612±26. 4 Clifford Geertz, ``Centers, kings, and charisma: reflections on the symbolics of power,'' in Geertz, Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology New York: Basic Books, 1983), p.124. 5 Mona Ozouf, Festivals and the French Revolution, trans.Alan Sheridan Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), pp.126±57. Mao's Parades 413 co-ordinated marches and mammoth sports events.6 In the Soviet Union, celebrations in Red Square during May Day and on the anniversary of the October Revolution were affirmations of Soviet authority and the supremacy of a socialist system.7 In the United States, parades such as those celebrating America's independence on 4 July are civic dramas and communal festivals, which, in the words of Mary Ryan, represent ``an exercise in popular sovereignty.''8 How do the Chinese communist parades compare to these? Studies of Chinese state spectacles have significantly advanced our under- standing of the roles of ritual and symbolism in the development of nationalism. Recent works on the National Day 10 October) celebrations to honour the anniversary of the 1911 Revolution have shed light on the development of a new national community in early Republican China.9 One art historian's study of state parades on 1 October in socialist China offers some insights into communist political ritual and symbolism.10 But few have examined how these state spectacles were organized institutionally or identified the key planners; even fewer have looked into the influence of Western state ceremonies on Chinese parades in the case of socialist China, it was the Soviet model).This article attempts to fill these gaps by examining both the official agencies responsible for staging state parades in China in the 1950s and the Soviet influence on the staging process.More importantly, it seeks to understand the nature of Chinese state spectacles, focusing not only on the National Day 1 October) parades but also on the May Day celebrations held in Tiananmen Square )è:) in the 1950s.I argue that the parades of the CCP were well- organized political rituals with multiple purposes: they were festivals to highlight the demolition of the old order and to embrace the new socialism; a legitimation of the CCP's authority; a display of myriad achievements under communism; an affirmation of the centrality of the role of Mao Zedong 1893±1976) in modern Chinese revolutionary history hence expressing the cult of Mao); and an announcement of China's presence in the international socialist camp.The parades also reflected a nation undergoing political and economic changes at the time.Although celebrations and parades were also staged in major cities such as Shanghai, the ones in the capital were the most memorable and significant, and 6 George Mosse, The Nationalization of the Masses: Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975), pp.100±26. 7 Christel Lane, The Rites of Rulers: Ritual in Industrial Society ± The Soviet Case Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp.153±88. 8 Mary Ryan, ``The American parade: representations of the nineteenth-century social order,'' in Lynn Hunt ed.), The New Cultural History Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), p.138. 9 Henrietta Harrison, The Making of the Republican Citizen: Political Ceremonies and Symbols in China, 1911±1929 Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp.93±132. 10 Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing: Tiananmen Square and the Creation of a Political Space Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005), pp.85±104. 414 The China Quarterly, 190, June 2007, pp. 411±431 provided a model for others to follow.Local observers were often sent to the capital to learn from the Beijing experience.11 City Decorations and Mass Celebrations Because of political and social uncertainties,